workshops work

Colonel Walt Holmes shares insights on community-based education, gamified approach to change, and leading groups effectively. Learn about fostering teamwork, accountability, and empowerment in military units. Explore the impact of collaborative problem-solving and empowering students through community-based education.

Explore the blurred lines between facilitation and consulting, dive into powerful facilitation techniques and participant reactions, navigate cliches in facilitation, balance trust and manipulation in facilitation, and discuss passion and detachment in facilitation

Share your thoughts about our conversation!Dialogue is a form of sense-making in motion. Thoughts become words become ideas, and ideas then enter reality splintering into fresh, new routes of discussion – a map begins to form, ready to be navigated.Although, that map might not always have the right people reading it, it may even have dead-ends along the way, or the wrong starting point entirely. This is where Amanda Harding comes in! As a Curator of Conversation, she designs a third space for deliberate dialogue to be held between a blend of actors, so that entangled, wicked problems can be unravelled with purpose, made malleable, and actionable.As you’d guess, mine and Amanda’s own dialogue surfaced some big, juicy themes, considerations and musings for the facilitation process.Find out about:Why dialogue can fail when it lacks the right blend of participants – often, those with conflicting opinions have the best conversationsThe importance of making power dynamics explicit to achieve inclusive participationHow tension can be embraced and managed within a space by ensuring all participants can constructively engageHow to craft questions, or conversation-starters, for impactful dialogueWhy dialogue can achieve alignment on a higher common ground, in contrast to a shared consensus, which can lead to diluted, compromised ambitionsDon’t miss the next episode: subscribe to the show with your favourite podcast player.Links:Watch the video recording of this episode on YouTube.Connect to Amanda Harding:LinkedInWebsiteSupport the show✨✨✨Subscribe to our newsletter to receive a free 1-page summary of each upcoming episode directly to your inbox, or explore our eBooks featuring 50-episode compilations for even more facilitation insights. Find out more:https://workshops.work/podcast✨✨✨Did you know? You can search all episodes by keyword to find exactly what you need via our Buzzsprout page!

Share your thoughts about our conversation!Is there an art to creating human connection? My guest this week Yaniv Rose, would certainly say so. As an Authentic Relator, his craft lies in facilitating deeper, more meaningful connections - transforming the relationship we have with ourselves, and the one we have with others.It’s a tool for life: a grounding practice that asks us to consciously observe, fine-tune, and recalibrate our human interactions by showing up unequivocally as our truest selves. And when we rewire ourselves to honour authenticity? We can seek out new depths of intimacy, and ultimately, we learn how to be more human.Find out about:The five core practices within Authentic RelatingWhy Authentic Relating is a transformational foundation for how you approach connections with yourself and others, and how you can start practising it todayHow to connect participants to an organisation’s core values through roleplayWhy Authentic Relating as a facilitation tool can create a safe space for participants to feel seen and heardWhy workshops can fail if we stay within the realm of safety, and don’t try to make the implicit explicitDon’t miss the next episode: subscribe to the show with your favourite podcast player.Links:Watch the video recording of this episode on YouTube.Connect to Yaniv Rose:WebsiteInstagramLinkedInSupport the show✨✨✨Subscribe to our newsletter to receive a free 1-page summary of each upcoming episode directly to your inbox, or explore our eBooks featuring 50-episode compilations for even more facilitation insights. Find out more:https://workshops.work/podcast✨✨✨Did you know? You can search all episodes by keyword to find exactly what you need via our Buzzsprout page!

Share your thoughts about our conversation!Master-manipulator, con-artist… facilitator? When we think of manipulation, facilitation is probably the last thing that springs to mind. We are neutral, we are trusted shepherds, we encourage emergence! So where does the line between manipulation and facilitation start, and where does it end?This week, my brilliant colleagues Thomas Lahnthaler, Cate Czerwinski, Shamir Joseph and Florentine Versteeg sat down with me to examine this ethically grey, but endlessly fascinating area.We explore manipulation in its many, inconspicuous guises: mysterious agendas, influencing the process, the facilitation tools we deploy, practising self-awareness, power dynamics and navigating participant consent.Find out about:Where manipulation and facilitation meet, overlap, and the ethical danger zones to be cautious of when facilitatingWhy manipulation in a facilitation context becomes a causal sequence of: purpose, presence, power, process, participants and play.Why practicing self-awareness and presence is crucial to be able to navigate the needs of the group, the client, and yourselfThe power we possess as facilitators, and why obtaining consent at the beginning of a workshop is crucial to earning trustWhy the predefined roles that participants adopt can stifle the process and prevent new perspectives from being explored.Don’t miss the next episode: subscribe to the show with your favourite podcast player.Links:Watch the video recording of this episode on YouTube.Connect with the guests:Thomas LahnthalerCate CzerwinskiShamir JosephFlorentine VersteegSupport the show✨✨✨Subscribe to our newsletter to receive a free 1-page summary of each upcoming episode directly to your inbox, or explore our eBooks featuring 50-episode compilations for even more facilitation insights. Find out more:https://workshops.work/podcast✨✨✨Did you know? You can search all episodes by keyword to find exactly what you need via our Buzzsprout page!

Share your thoughts about our conversation!Motivation is a complex, elusive creature. We either have it, or we don’t, right?But what if I told you, there is a science to motivation, after all? And motivation mogul Ahmet Tamtekin has cracked its code! His passion project for coaching led him to discover his life’s purpose: motivation, how we experience it, how to read it as a language, and how to inspire it in others. He now uses the wonders of neuroscience to tap into our wildly differing motivators, to boost team performance and get the best out of people.In this episode, Ahmet brings his passion and charisma into every corner of our conversation, sharing curious new tricks, tools and avenues to explore in both our facilitation practice and everyday lives. I promise that episode 253 will be a real treat for your mind!Find out about:Where motivation fits within the practice of facilitationWhy a good facilitator can both read and feed the nuances of motivations in the room for the greatest impactPersonality tests can reveal how you naturally behave, while motivation uncovers why you behave that way, giving us the power to change our behavioursMotivation can be an expression, or a language, that we speak to our loved ones – and sometimes, we must look beyond to understand their languageDon’t miss the next episode: subscribe to the show with your favourite podcast player.Links:Watch the video recording of this episode on YouTube.Connect to Ahmet Tamtekin:LinkedInWebsiteSupport the show✨✨✨Subscribe to our newsletter to receive a free 1-page summary of each upcoming episode directly to your inbox, or explore our eBooks featuring 50-episode compilations for even more facilitation insights. Find out more:https://workshops.work/podcast✨✨✨Did you know? You can search all episodes by keyword to find exactly what you need via our Buzzsprout page!

Share your thoughts about our conversation!And, action! This week, Stoyan Yankov takes us on a journey from behind the clapperboard to discuss the fascinating symmetries between movie production and facilitation.The world of cinema can be unpredictable, filled with plot twists, creative agendas and diverse characters, and when the metaphorical smoke-machine breaks, it requires a sixth sense for when to keep the camera rolling, and when to end scene.Stoyan joins us with all the learnings, stories and curiosities he’s collected in his back pocket from his career to date - from movie producer, to facilitator and talented TedX speaker. Sit back and enjoy!Find out about:What a movie producer can teach us about facilitation – from managing a diverse array of personalities, to mastering adaptation, and being vehicles of transformationThe best movie productions – and workshops – are often the ones when the producer is most invisible, giving everyone else a platform to feel seen and heardJust like move producers, master facilitators should sense when a tangent is worth pursuing, and when to redirect the conversationWhy the early stages of our career are rich playgrounds for learning, growth and experimentationAs facilitators, circumstances will always lie beyond our control, but it’s our attitude towards what is within our control, that countsHow a 1-hour speech can transform someone’s life, giving them new perspectives to considerDon’t miss the next episode: subscribe to the show with your favourite podcast player.Links:Watch the video recording of this episode on YouTube.Connect to Stoyan Yankov:LinkedInWebsite Support the show✨✨✨Subscribe to our newsletter to receive a free 1-page summary of each upcoming episode directly to your inbox, or explore our eBooks featuring 50-episode compilations for even more facilitation insights. Find out more:https://workshops.work/podcast✨✨✨Did you know? You can search all episodes by keyword to find exactly what you need via our Buzzsprout page!

Share your thoughts about our conversation!We all speak the language of music. It’s life’s medicine, a beautiful escape when we need one, and it feeds our soul in ways that feel, somehow, inexplicable.But there is of course method to the magic. Musician, vocalist, singer, and songwriter Sam McNeill has been singing all his life – from the Sydney Opera House, to the heavyweight headquarters of Spotify - he now works as a musical facilitator for SongDivision, bonding teams all over the world through the science of music.In their songwriting workshops, deep reflections take place, honesty emerges in the lyrics, and teams are given a new voice to creatively express values and reveal the unspoken.Press play and treat your ears to this fascinating episode with Sam as he shares his personal experiences as a performer, offering a unique platform for us to examine the intersection of music and facilitation. You’ll learn:Why songwriting is a powerful tool for teams to express themselves, encourage discussion and strengthen bondsHow music can remove hierarchy, putting employees on a level playing field in a workshop settingThe science behind music: how activating the prefrontal cortex can enhance creativity and set the scene for fruitful collaborationWhy failure is a better outcome than impartiality, offering us learnings for improvementThe parallels that lie between an artist’s performance and that of a facilitatorWhy a lack of clarity around what success looks like in a workshop can cause failureHow musical genres can help teams or organisations to better define themselvesDon’t miss the next episode: subscribe to the show with your favourite podcast player.Links:Watch the video recording of this episode on YouTube.The episode with Rich Goidel we referred to on the show.Connect to Sam McNeill:LinkedInSongDivisionSupport the show✨✨✨Subscribe to our newsletter to receive a free 1-page summary of each upcoming episode directly to your inbox, or explore our eBooks featuring 50-episode compilations for even more facilitation insights. Find out more:https://workshops.work/podcast✨✨✨Did you know? You can search all episodes by keyword to find exactly what you need via our Buzzsprout page!

Share your thoughts about our conversation!From the US Military, to the world of professional coaching, my guest this week is not only an ex-army officer, but an executive coach, leadership mentor, facilitator, and an inexorably passionate learner.At aged 17, Pat D’Amico was enlisted into Valley Forge Military Academy where he went on to serve in multiple humanitarian and combat deployments around the world. But it was here in military training, that his personal leadership journey began. It shaped him into the exceptional facilitator that he is today, teaching him the lifelong discipline of continuous learning, the importance of being passionate, and why knowing your stuff should be approached with military precision.Pat takes us on a fascinating expedition this week into powerful course design, the world of leadership training, why practical training will always triumph over classroom learning – and much, much more!Find out about:Pat’s learnings from his time in the military and how army training has helped him to become a better facilitator, mentor and coachThe importance of mastering your content, and how facilitation mastery and content quality complement each other Why it’s important to listen to the high performers, instead of the low performers to understand organisational challengesLearn practical tips on how participants can retain and apply key learnings after a workshop has concludedWhy creating a safe environment for participants to make mistakes is so valuablePassion, content customisation, and relatability are crucial for a workshop to succeedDon’t miss the next episode: subscribe to the show with your favourite podcast player.Links:Watch the video recording of this episode on YouTube.Connect to Pat D’Amico:LinkedInSupport the show✨✨✨Subscribe to our newsletter to receive a free 1-page summary of each upcoming episode directly to your inbox, or explore our eBooks featuring 50-episode compilations for even more facilitation insights. Find out more:https://workshops.work/podcast✨✨✨Did you know? You can search all episodes by keyword to find exactly what you need via our Buzzsprout page!

Share your thoughts about our conversation!This episode is a special one! You’re invited to time travel back to the NeverDoneBefore Festival, and join me in my virtual podcast boat where I speak to six of our talented facilitators over the 24-hour event: Becky Sawle, Sonja Sinz, Mirjam Leunissen, Célia Rene Corail, Etrit Shkreli and Marianne Oh. It’s a jam-packed journey, full of rich, multifaceted wisdom; each conversation offers a fascinating and thoughtful perspective, making the next hour and a half an exploration into facilitation as a whole, in its many wondrous forms.We talk about the balance between structure and emergence, we find unexpected learnings in a Christian Andersen folktale and teachings from a Hindu goddess, we delve into embodiment, trust, costumes, language and neutrality, and how we can support neurodiversity in workshop settings. Phew, it’s a whistle-stop tour!Find out about:How costumes can create a safe space to tap into our creativityThe balance between structure and emergence that appears through co-creation, and how to navigate the twoWhy conflict isn’t necessarily a bad thing; when you lean into it, we can strengthen relationshipsWhy as a facilitator, we are the ultimate source of energy, transferring our feelings and emotions to the groupHow to use embodiment to shift moods, develop new behaviours, and why observing a deeper connection with our body is a journey into self-discoveryWhy we can draw inspiration from Shiva and Kali in Hindu mythology, to find the balance between presence and actionHow facilitators can balance diverse needs and preferences to support neurodiversity Don’t miss the next episode: subscribe to the show with your favourite podcast player.Links:Watch the video recording of this episode on YouTube.Connect to the guests on LinkedIn:Becky Sawle Sonja SinzMirjam LeunissenCélia Rene CorailEtrit Shkreli Marianne OhSupport the show:Make a one-off donation and contribute to the ongoing costs of running the podcast.Support the show✨✨✨Subscribe to our newsletter to receive a free 1-page summary of each upcoming episode directly to your inbox, or explore our eBooks featuring 50-episode compilations for even more facilitation insights. Find out more:https://workshops.work/podcast✨✨✨Did you know? You can search all episodes by keyword to find exactly what you need via our Buzzsprout page!